Beatitude
is not a word used in our normal conversation. It is a word that is not easily
translated into English. Sometimes it is defined as happiness, but this grossly
misses the mark. Saint Gregory defines it as follows:
"Possession of all things held to be
good, from which nothing is absent that a good desire may want."
It is not
just goodness but a goodness "from which nothing is absent " that is
good. It's hard to imagine the magnitude of this goodness. What then is truly
blessed to be called a Beatitude?
Saint
Gregory tells us,
"the one thing truly blessed is the
Divinity itself. Whatever else we may suppose It to be, this pure life, the
ineffable and incomprehensible good, is beatitude. It is... grace , wisdom, and
power; this true light that is the fount of all goodness, mighty above all
else; the one thing lovable which is always the same, rejoicing without end in
infinite happiness. Even is one has said about It all one can, yet one has said
nothing worthy of It."
Gregory
is teaching us that the idea of a Beatitude is nothing like an emotional state
of human happiness which comes and goes. It is the infinite goodness and
perfection we find only in the Divine. So How can we ever be deemed worthy to
be called blessed? Saint Gregory reminds us that we are created in the image of
God and therefore we should be called blessed when we live up to this image
within. But we know, as he points out, that this perfect image has been
disfigured by our sinfulness. This is the whole reason for the Incarnation of
Christ, His teaching, crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and the
establishment of His Church. He came to cleanse us and restore us to the
perfect image we had at the time of creation. In the Beatitudes we find the
characteristics we must have to gain this blessedness. They provide the path to
Theosis or union with God.
Gregory
writes,
"But as he who fashioned man made him in
the image of God; in a derived sense that which is called by this name should
also be held blessed, inasmuch as he participates in the true beatitude... When
we have put off the shame of sin, we shall be restored once more to the blessed
form."
Source: http://orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.com.by/2009/08/what-is-beatitude.html
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